We'll Survive Together
by marvelnerd2981
Summary: Set in the Days of Future Past plotline, taking place in both the new and old futures. A series of stolen moments between Bobby and Kitty in the old future, and what really happened after Logan woke up in the fixed future. Please review!


One of the things Kitty misses most is sunlight.  
In this poisoned world, however, where sentinel transport hovers replace clouds and a hastily attached frame of anarchy shrouds everything, the sky is always muddy amber or blood red. There is no in between.  
Kitty Anne Pryde misses the blue sky because it reminds her of his eyes. Those eyes she'll never see again, she knows that for sure. She furiously blocks her memories, all of them, except for his eyes. It's all she will allow herself. Every moment she remembers what had been is like a twisted knife to the gut, and she's had her fair share of mutilation already, thanks.  
So she grits her teeth and wonders what hurts more, repressing the thoughts or reliving them. This heroine, this warrior, this X-Man, hunches in agony, because now she is prisoner 86-4408 in mutant concentration camp number 216. And she knows no help is coming.

Kitty runs a shaking finger over the rusted metal of the power nullifying neck cuff, knowing that if she attempts to phase through it a near-fatal electric shock will rally into her body. A grimace appears on her bloody face: of course a fatal shock would be too easy, they wouldn't want any mutants to put themselves out of misery now would they? A scream from the branding tent splices into her thoughts. The sound is too deep, too strong to be in so much pain. The noise causes Kitty's jaw to twitch and she gets to her feet on instinct, just like she's done with all the other screams, and makes to run to the tent without thinking. A grey clad guard with a suspiciously red splatter on his mask notices, sending a vicious kick into her shin.  
She lands with her hands in a puddle, pain radiating through her and her head thumping with silent sobs. It would be so easy to give up, to let them break her.

And then the top of the puddle freezes over.

The ice cobwebs ever so slowly across the edge of the filthy water, and Kitty feels as though every breath, every thought of giving up, every ounce of pain has been forced back into her body. It comes out as a gasp, similar to that of someone who has been submerged underwater for too long and finally gains oxygen again. The ragged exhalation is followed by a single sob, and Kitty struggles to her feet. Does she want to believe this? Is it a hallucination?

She decides that she doesn't care.

And then she turns and the skies don't turn cerulean again but they may as well have. Those eyes are looking down at her and everything inside her breaks with relief that she didn't think was possible anymore. For a heartbeat and a half they are the only two people in this horrible world.

The moment is torn in half by shouts of a guard, who are ordering that it's prisoner 86-4408's turn to get branded with the mutant "M."

"Bobby! Run!" Kitty doesn't remember her brain forming the words or her mouth opening to cry them, but she still takes his forearm and flings him away from her. A gun fires and the tranquilizer bullet grazes her leg, a short scream tearing from her mouth. Pain and pink flashes in her vision, arms wrap around her, the air gets tight and oppressive, and the camp dissolves just in time for her eyes to close against the drugs.

Kitty dreams that she's drowning. Or rather, that she's suspended in solid ice. Is there much of a difference? Someone's muffled scream sounds and the ice breaks, just before her neck cuff shocks her in such a way that her every blood vessel is on fire. "Why!?" She screams. "I didn't do anything!" When she screams again though, the electricity is gone, and so are the shards of ice at her feet.  
"Kitty." A familiar voice whispers. "What have they done to you?" The low sound wavers and pain is evident.  
She lies silent for a bit more on what feels like a long metal slab. She's so afraid that this is a dream that she barely has the courage to open her eyes.  
"Bobby?" Finally she turns toward him. His face forms a weak, tired smile. There are new wrinkles where there weren't before, although she's sure he could say the same about her. He has a beard now, and his sandy hair is a bit longer, but his eyes still hold that mischievous Bobby Drake sparkle, that if she looked closer she would realize he reserved only for her.

Bobby gets to his feet slowly, wincing as he uses the rickety stool as a crutch. They're sitting in a mildewy, cellar-like room, with three lamps casting ominous shadows along the walls and boxes and crates stacked everywhere. Bobby limps his way over to a pitcher as Kitty sits up.

"Bobby?" She says again, her voice weak. He hands her the cup of water and sits back down on his stool, barely even looking at her.

"Kitty Pryde." A boyish smile erupts. "I never thought I'd see you again."

"No?" She sips the water, which is room temperature and tastes vaguely of dirt but relieves her aching throat nonetheless.

He's all seriousness now.

"I've been looking for you for half a year." His gaze is on his feet now and she can't take her eyes off of him.

"How did you escape?" It's all she can manage without crying.

"I was in a camp a little farther west. Number 112. I used my powers to freeze the nullifier. The shock almost killed me, but I was able to shut it off long enough to break the damn thing. Thats where I met Blink and Warpath. I set them free and Blink teleported us into the highlands." That explained the limping, Kitty thought. She'd seen mutants the size of Juggernauts killed by those cuffs. "The only thing that kept me going was worrying about you, Kit." His gaze is still averted and he's inched as far away from her as possible, curled into himself. Tears glaze Kitty's eyes and she longs to reach out and touch him. She needs him to know that as long as he's with her, she'll find a way to be ok, just like those years ago when Professor Xavier died. "I took to infiltrating camps, and I ended up recruiting Bishop and Sunspot. Found Colossus in one of them and I nearly died with relief. Each time I almost died, almost got ripped apart by sentinels, but I needed to find you." It's almost like he's talking to himself now. By now, tears are streaming down Kitty's cheeks as she listens to the boy she's loved since she was 14.

"Bobby Drake. Look at me." She pleads in a hushed voice. He looks up at her, and his eyes are teary as well. It's like he's seeing her for the first time since he rescued her, finally allowing himself to believe that she's really here with him.

"You know, Kitty, you're still so beautiful." He smiles a sad, bashful smile and reaches forward, and for a moment she thinks he's going to push back her hair behind her ear. Instead his finger lands on her tin cup of water, and with a hiss it gets icy in her grip. "It might taste better cold." He whispers, barely audible. And then, because she doesn't know if she'll still be alive by this time tomorrow, and because she's been wanting to for 9 years, Kitty slides off the slab and closes the distance between them, places her hand on the back of his neck, lingers for a split second of hesitation, and then pushes her lips onto Bobby's. He responds hungrily almost immediately and pulls her gently onto his lap, lodging one hand in her hair and the other on her back. After all this time, he still has his Bobby smell, Kitty notices, that odd combination that can only be defined as wintery: cold and clean and fresh. Whenever they used to think about kissing each other, as teenagers do, they never imagined that it would be in an underground bunker with wounds and burns riddling their bodies, but neither would have traded it for anything. The fact that this kiss was almost a decade in the making made both of them lean into it full force and never want it to end.

Eventually, Kitty leaned back and breathed in deeply.

"Whats the matter? Did you get brainfreeze?" Bobby teases, keeping his forehead against hers and running his fingers absently through her chestnut hair; he's always loved how soft it was.

"There's the Bobby I know." Kitty smirks before rubbing his cheek and leaning back to look at him in the eye.

"Whats wrong?" He asks, shifting to sit up straighter with his arms still around her.

"I just want to remember this moment, forever. God knows if we'll ever get another like it." At this, more warm tears leak out of her eyes.

"Kitty. As long as we're together I'm never going to let anything happen to you. I'll never lose you again. I promise." His voice is firm and he slides a hand off her hips and intertwines their fingers.

"Likewise." She smiles gently. "I've missed you, Bobby."


End file.
